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The influence of the caste system of India
The influence of caste system in india
The caste system in india
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Caste system is visible in many religions and many parts around the world. Caste is translates to “Jati” in Hindi, the national language of India. “Jati”, literally means born with, something that cannot be changed and is inevitable. Caste system has been part of our lives for centuries. Caste system affects the poor the most and without a surprise they belong to lowest of the caste system. They are given status of untouchable and believed to poses low values, physical disabilities and diseases. Such view makes it hard for them to find work, get education and equal rights in the society. Hence, they spend most of their lives working for the upper rich caste. The castes were divided into four castes as Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Shudra. The separation was made on the base of work they do.
The Brahmana’s duties were to worship the god and goddess they were also called priest and they had to follow strict religious rules. The Kshatriya were the guards of the communities their duties were to protect the community from the enemies. The Vaisya did the trade and business. The Shudras’s duties prearranged the duty of serving the above three castes (Sullivan, 2011). These cast system was created for discipline but that is not seen today. Still in modern day India may suffer because of their caste. Although, since the year 1950 Indian government has banned discrimination based on caste system, they have been unable to put an end to it. There are still issues and cases regarding the caste system.
M. K. Ghandhi stood up for the lower caste people and called them “Harijan” means children’s of god. Then the democratic India’s government also has taken some steps to improve the condition of the lower caste in India. They have pro...
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... education system, especially at the primary level and in rural areas, should be given more emphasis.
Better jobs will go to the more educated people. But as the lower castes begin to realize that the better jobs are in the private sector rather than in the government, they will turn, one hopes, to education rather than reservations. This may already be happening. States of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh suggests that a new political leadership, defined by education and skills rather than caste, may be emerging in these rural areas. Twenty-six percent of the new leaders are SCs, though the group only makes up 22 percent of the population (Das, 2001). As Das concedes, the private sector is still influenced by the affinities of kin and caste connection but the spirit of capitalist competition has also driven many businesses to recruit for skills and talent, not caste.
There are four main castes and one in which they consider to be the outcastes. The four main castes are the Brahmin, the next is the Kshatriya, the third is the Vaishya, and the fourth is the Shudra. The outcastes are in the group called Dalits. Each caste has a purpose in life, the Brahmin are considered to be the priestly caste in which they are teach the Veda, and are to “sacrifice for others and receive alms” (Institutes of Vishnu 5-10, pg. 44). The Kshatriya is considered the warriors or the ruler caste, they have constant practice in battles, and they are to protect the world from harm. The Vaishya are to be the merchants and the farmers, they tend to the cattle, they, “engage in farming, keeps cows, trades, lends money at interest, and grows seeds” (Institutes of Vishnu 5-10, pg. 44). The Shudra are the manual laborers who according to the Institutes of Vishnu under the Four Castes, are to serve the twice born men who are to sacrifice and to study the Veda, the Shudra also engage in all the different duties of craftsmanship (5-10, pg.44). In case of a crisis, each caste is allowed to follow the occupation of the caste that is below them in rank. The duties in which all four of these castes, whatever gender or stage of life, are to follow and hav...
Thousands of years ago, Indian society developed into a complex system based on different classes. This system is known as the Caste System. It separated Indians into different castes based on what class they were born into. As thousands of years went by, this system grew larger and became further complex (Wadley 189). This system caused frustration for the Indian citizens because they were receiving inequality.
One of the major Hindu beliefs that Buddhism rejects is the Caste System, or “jati” in Sanskrit (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). The caste system is the social structure of Hinduism. It starts with the Brahmins, who are the priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya or warrior class. Next is the Vaishya, merchant class, and lastly the Shudras, the lowest caste designated to perform the impure and foul jobs the upper castes would never do. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The rules of the caste system are specific. Inter-marriages between castes are heavily discouraged and one can never change their caste during their current lifetime. Each caste has its own cosmic duties to fulfill, and not doing so could be detrimental to the world or an individuals karma. These distinct duties are referred to as one’s Dharma. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The Laws of Manu state “Better to do one’s own dharma badly than another caste’s dharma well” (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). Through saṃsāra, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, hopefully every soul will eventua...
Dictionary.com defines a caste system as “a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law, or religion” This means someone born into a low caste cannot move up to a higher caste because of this system. Although a caste system is not a set of laws, it is almost never broken because the caste system has been in place for so long.
This is necessary as the vast majority of individuals migrating from rural to urban centers has been steadily increasing with the level of economic growth seen within the past twenty years as mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, this situation has further shown the structural issues and inequalities of cities, as most migrants end up having a poor quality of life living in informal settlements as highlight substantially by Boo. As a means of tackling this, however, the Indian government has turned its focus on investing rural regions, developing the agricultural sector. Specifically, Boo mentions that “the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had come down from Delhi to express his concern for the farmers’ hardships, and the central government’s determination to relieve it” (p. 138). While this is definitely important funds are not being divided justly. For starters, between rural and urban areas almost all investments are being targeting towards rural regions, which is only addressing issues of inequality in one section of the country. Furthermore, across rural areas inequalities of investment are quite often overlooked. Although, “one of the governments hopes was to stop villagers from abandoning their farms and further inundating cities like Mumbai, but Asha’s relatives knew nothing of these celebrated relief programs” (p. 138). Therefore, even though
The caste system of India originated from the “strict societal class distinction between the nobility and the common people” that the Aryans brought to the Indus Valley in the early 1500s BCE (Cunningham, Reich, Fichner-Rathus 163). The Aryans, who migrated from Europe, invaded and imposed their will upon the indigenous people of the Indus valley in order to build a control system that would keep them at the top and their blood line untainted. This social ranking system that they implemented has been a staple in Indian society ever since and has undergone many changes over the last thirty-five hundred years. A person’s rank in society was acquired through birth rites and was permanent. It was believed that a person’s rank could only be changed in the next life after death. “Movement from one rank to another was believed to be connected to good or bad deeds during one’s lifetime” (163).
The Indian government is corrupted and makes promises it is unable to keep. In The White Tiger, Balram describes that the government is “...the world’s greatest democracy. What a fucking joke.” (Adiga 145). When Balram lived in Laxmangarh his right to vote for the prime minister was taken from him, due to the fact that running candidates pay the current government to make sure they are elected. The government system also enables the rich to get richer. They do this by immensely taxing the poor and enforcing the caste system on the poor. The caste system is a labeling system you were born into and of what you are expected of in life. For example Balram had the caste of Halwai, which is derived from “sweet-maker”. This meant Balram was expected to work...
In The Laws of Manu the caste system is described in great detail. It explains everything one must do to be a part of their caste. In Hinduism each social class (varna) has its own dharma, or social law. The concept of dharma regulates all parts of life for Hindu’s and outlines their duties. However, there are different levels of dharma for people in the twice-born varnas, which includes the Brahmin, Ksatriya, and Vaisya. The different levels of dharma are based on the stage of life that an individual is at. The four stages an individual can be at are a student, a householder, a forest-dweller, or a sannyasin. A sannyasin is the lowest stage one can be in and one reaches that stage when they have cut all of their ties to society. In the text from The Laws of Manu it is stated that a householder may “never, for the sake of subsistence, follow the ways of the world: let him live the pure straightforward, honest life of a Brahmin” (Smart & Hecht 214). The Hindus believed in living a very simple life and being very honorable. The Laws of Manu states that no Brahmin should “attach himself to any sensual pleasures” (214) and also to “avoid all (means of acquiring) wealth which impede the study of the Veda” (214). In The Laws of Manu the idea of final liberation is brought up very frequently. Final liberation is the goal of all Brahmins. A Brahmin lives his whole life striving to reach final liberation and he does so by following dharma. He does not challenge dharma at all and believes that if he follows it, he will reach final liberation.
Caste System is a social system based on ascribed statuses, which are traits or characteristics of people at birth. The ascribed status includes race, gender, nationality, body type and age. The caste system ranks people so rigidly. A person cannot just change his caste any time he wants.
Owing to India’s diversity, these identities are determined by caste, ancestry, socioeconomic class, religion, sexual orientation and geographic location, and play an important role in determining the social position of an individual (Anne, Callahan & Kang, 2011). Within this diversity, certain identities are privileged over others, due to social hierarchies and inequalities, whose roots are more than a thousand years old. These inequalities have marginalized groups and communities which is evident from their meagre participation in politics, access to health and education services and
Divided into four major social categories, the caste system categorizes Hindus, who act accordingly to their caste, into Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra. Another class, the “untouchables,” is considered outside of the system. These five different classes of society define each person greatly. Castes are unchangeable and rarely intermarry. This social division is yet another example of how religion disbands organizations of people.
...an HDI of 0.36. These discrepancies in levels of development have led to an exodus of people, from less developed areas to the areas that have been benefitted by development. This situation seems to depict that predicted by the Dependency theory in which the developed countries progressed due to the exploitation of peripheral nations; the same seems to be happening in India. The states that are wealthier are exploiting the poorer states. It would be difficult to imagine India having the economic status that it now has, if it was not for the terrible working conditions and wages at which the Indians are willing to work and the massive work force available in the country. Now that India has seen economic growth the government should start taking care of its citizens by implementing policies that protect the labor rights of the workforce.
The current manifestations of the caste system are now far more generalized across the Indian subcontinent than was the case in former times. Caste as we now recognize has been endangered, shaped and perpetuated by comparatively recent political and social developments. This is evident even i...
It is these ideas that that sometimes promote the wrong image to Indian society. By promoting the ideas of caste people may be influenced to do the same in real life which can result in an array of situations. People may run away from home, or even commit suicide as a result of not being allowed to be with whom they please.
The history of tribal oppression in India is an old one. “The Sanyasi Revolt”, “The Wahabi Movement”, and “The Naxalbari Rebellion”, are evidence of the tribal outcry that appropriately foregrounds their requirement for fundamental rights as citizens of the country. Even after sixty six years of independence, India’s rural poor and tribals are lamenting under the curbing effects of destitution, unemployment, undernourishment, illiteracy and human trafficking. For these people, the notions of liberty, equality and democracy have no meaning at all. Though the country is free from the bondage of foreign rule, their repression and prejudices still continue leaving them dependent on their new masters.